Next Vauxhall Corsa to include all-electric model

Vauxhall will join the move towards electric vehicles with the next generation of its best-selling Corsa supermini range.

Official pictures of the Corsa-e, the first of what Vauxhall says are three new all-electric models, have been released after images of the car were leaked on a French website.

The electric version of the supermini will arrive in showrooms in March 2020, following the traditional internal combustion version of the Corsa. This is the first Vauxhall model to have been created since the British firm was bought by the PSA Group and succeeds a car that was Britain’s third most popular last year, with more than 52,000 registered.

The Corsa-e is built on PSA Group’s CMP platform, sharing much of its design with the recently revealed Peugeot e-208. It is powered by a 50kWh battery linked to an electric motor, the powertrain developing 136hp and 260Nm of torque. The car will offer a sprightly 0-62mph time of 8.1 seconds with 0-31mph achieved in just 2.8 seconds.

Vauxhall claims a range of 205 miles (WLTP measured) on a single charge, but adds that this can be extended by as much as 40% with the car in the Eco setting of the three driving modes. Eco makes full use of the regenerative braking system, while the car also offers Normal and Sport modes – Sport will cut range by around 10%.

The Corsa-e’s charging port is located behind the fuel filler cap, and the car can be charged to 80% in 30 minutes using a rapid charger.

Equipment available for the Corsa-e will include a ten-inch colour touchscreen, which incorporates Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration systems. A range of driver assistance systems are fitted as standard, including adaptive cruise control and automatic traffic sign recognition.

Pricing for the Corsa-e will be revealed later in the year. Meanwhile, official details of the internal-combustion Corsa range are expected very shortly. It is not expected to significantly differ in styling from the electric variant, the Corsa’s looks however quite distinct from its Peugeot 208 sister car.

Andrew is a road test editor for The Car Expert. He is a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and has been testing and writing about new cars for more than 20 years. Today he is well known to senior personnel at the major car manufacturers and attends many new model launches each year.

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